Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 66

Mehendale: Vanargú
does not seem to have found followers. It is therefore necessary to state that his interpretation is perfectly justified. Agni is often called a bull' or is compared with a bull, and in this respect he is in many cases described as active in the vana®. The expression yád ith ghcchanty usatír apisthitám, which occurs in the immediately preceding verse (4), also favours this interpretation. The epithet bull of the forest' appears to be meant to contrast with mṛgáḥ ápyaḥ the animal of the water'.7
RV 10.4.6 is also addressed to Agni:
tanutyájeva táskara vanargu rakanabhir dafábhir abhyadhītām iyam te agne návyasi maniṣà yukṣvà rálhaṁ ná bucáyadbhir ángaiḥ||
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Geldner translates: "Wie zwei im Walde streifende Räuber, die ihr Leben einsetzen, haben (beide Arme) mit zehn Stricken (das Reibholz) festgebunden. Diese neueste Dichtung ist für dich, Agni ; bespanne gleichsam deinen Wagen mit deinen flammenden Gliedern!"
Geldner thus understands ab as a very much abbreviated comparison. The two arms holding the churning stick with ten fingers are compared with two bold robbers, wandering in forest, binding a traveller. Geldner says that while interpreting ab in this way he is only following the traditional explanation available since the days of Yöska. He remarks: "So auch Sây. und Durga zu Nir. 8, 14. Er vergleicht die feuerreibenden Arme mit Zwei Räubern', Yáska."
Now Sayana indeed interprets the comparison in the way imagnied by Geldner. He, however, does not say anything about the upameyavakya (the two hands holding the aranis) and wants us to follow it from the statement of Yäska which he quotes. Durga also essentially understands the comparison in the same way. It is likely that Yaska also had the same thing in mind and interpreted vanargu
5 As shown by the above translation of Geldner and also by his Glossar. The same interpretation is given by Uhlenbeck's Wörterbuch and by Macdonell in Skr. vanara und verwandtes' KZ 34. 292-96 (1897) and in his Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (also Vedic Index S. V. taskara and vanargu). All these scholars have accepted the interpretation of Yaska (see next verse) and Sayana (vanagami). Wackernagel-Debrunner Alt. Gr. II 2, §287e note (p. 472) also have the same meaning in mind but regarding the form they suggest two possibilities. "In vanar-gú- agre-gúscheint eine sinnverwandte Wurzel zu stecken ;... oder war yu- aus Wurzel i- gebildet und nachträglich auf Wurzel ya- bezogen und zum Vorbild für gu -zu qā- geworden?"
6 RV 4. 5. 3; 5. 1. 8, 12; 5. 28. 4; 6. 16. 39; 8. 60. 13; 1. 58. 4, 5; 1. 94. 10; 10. 115. 2; 1. 128. 8 6. 6. 5. In some cases where Agni is not directly mentioned as a bull, there is no doubt that this is what is intended, e.g. RV 1. 143. 5; 7.4. 2; 7.7.2; 8.43.8; 10. 79. 2.
7 Cf. here vrsno......gárbham......nápátam apám RV 5. 41. 10 and ursabhó roraviti...... apám upásthe mahisó vavardha RV 10. 8. 1.
8 So also Sarup, Eng. Tr. of the Nirukta, pp. 47-48 and f. n. 1. on p. 48. Geldner mentions the alternative possibility of a passive construction. In that case the two churning sticks, held by the ten fingers, will have been compared with two arrested robbers.
9 We may now add also Skanda-Maheśvara.
10 Thus Yaska does not expressly mention the traveller' bound by the robbers. This has been supplied by commentators, pathika (Sayana), adhuaga (Durga), kascit (SkandaMaheśvara). Madhu Vidya/41